There was an error opening up the Backup/Synchronization Preferences. Please close Preferences and try again. || Errors in sharing album to photoshop.com

Recently we saw problem in loading of Backup/Sync Preferences in Adobe Photoshop Elements. One of the users is getting following message on attempt of launching Backup/Sync preferences through CTRL+K or Edit Menu. - 'There was an error opening up the Backup/Synchronization Preferences. Please close Preferences and try again.'

This error was always encountered irrespective of Catalogs of Adobe Photoshop Elements.

So let me share the process that happens on launching Preferences, especially Backup/Sync Preferences. On launch, preferences dialog tries to fetch albums in Catalog and on Photoshop.com. Most of the times this error occurs in case Elements Organizer fails to fetch albums from Photoshop.com. There can be various reason for this, so typical process of narrowing it down is -

1. Try the same steps in fresh catalog. Ideally you should be able to see the problem there as well. If not, then it's something we need to work out together.

2. If above step creates problem in fresh Catalog as well, then check if you are able to load all albums on www.photoshop.com? I mean, go to Photoshop.com account and see if you are able to see all your albums there.

3. If you are facing problems with PSE as well as Photoshop.com, then there can be some case of corruption in Albums.xml or some other malfunction. This is something you may want to raise with Adobe, but before that try steps mentioned at - http://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop-elements/kb/incorrect-account-information-photoshop-photoshop.html

How to restore Adobe Photoshop Elements after Computer/iMAC Crash

This is one of the common question asked on Adobe Forums, Elements Village or Feedback.photoshop.com, which is very unfortunate condition to be in. If this has happened with you first time and you were only using Adobe Photoshop Elements, there shouldn't be any problem related to installation of Adobe Photoshop Elements on same machine after restoration of Operating System.

"There was an error opening the Backup/Synchronization preferences. Please close preferences and try again" : How to fix this problem in PSE

'There was an error opening the Backup/Synchronization preferences. Please close preferences and try again' - This message is shown in Organizer Preferences when something went wrong with authentication process. When we launch Preferences of a Organizer with Elements Services, application tries to authenticate the user with Photoshop.com servers. During this, if anything abnormal happens, this message shown. But it's simple to resolve the problem.

Patch cannot be applied. Please contact product support. Error Code: U44m1P2003 - Are you facing this problem while applying new update of 9.0.3

Is you see this message while updating Adobe Photoshop Elements 9.0 to 9.0.3, simply disable Backup/Sync and run the update again...

For more details, check out http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/899/cpsid_89987.html

What happens on deleting files which are marked for SYNC

Features like Backup/Sync are very important as more closer to your real assets and also very risky if you don't understand them better. This become more important to understand the behavior when we talk about asset deletions and movement of media files from one place to another.


Today we are going to discuss deletion workflows in Elements Organizer and Photoshop.com with their impact on other side. I assume that before reading this article, you are well aware of backup/sync workflows and terminologies involved. If not, just check out http://photoshopelementsbyadobe.blogspot.com/search/label/Sync


As you know that that Backup/Sync feature ensures that any change we do on one side, its propagated to other.. i.e. Adobe Photoshop Elements to www.photoshop.com and vice-versa.


So many times a question comes about special handling of deletion cases. And answer is yes !! There is some special handling of workflows involved in online deletion of a photograph or video etc...


So here is what exactly happens :


Behavior is governed by a preference "When I delete online file, ask me before deleting it from my computer"

By default this option is ON, which means that you will always be asked before actually deleting your file from the catalog. In such scenarios you will see Sysc-Meter is warning stage and you have to launch Conflict Resolution dialog for making the final call of deleting files or keeping them in the catalog. 

If we choose to delete the file, it means we are deleting it from catalog and file will still remain on hard-disk. To remove it completing from computer, check the option "Also delete from the Hard Disk".


If we don't choose to delete the file, behavior is different in PSE7/8 and PSE9.


PSE7/8 - File will not be deleted from catalog and will sync back to Photoshop.com in same album.


PSE9 - File will be removed from that album but remain in the catalog. This file will not sync back to Photoshop.com unless option for syncing loose media is ON.


Hope this article will be helpful in understanding the behavior of Asset deletion and its hadning by Backup/Sync in Adobe Photoshop Elements.


Please comment back, in case you have more queries around this workflow or anything else related to Photoshop Elements.

ORGANIZER is available on Windows as well as MAC with ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 9.0

Many times I have seen people dreaming about ORGANIZER instead of Bridge with ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 9.0... Organizer was there on windows and CS-Bridge was shipped with earlier versions of ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS... THis time Adobe decided to have Organizer with Editor on Windows as well as MAC...

On top of that it has very good integration with iPHOTO which is a native application of MAC and a part of iLIFE bundle..

ORGANIZER is an application used for better orgaizing your photographs, audio and videos and its also part of Premiere Elements... PREMIERE ELEMENTS is also available on Windows as well as on MAC with ORGANIZER... So it gives a complete solution to a person who has camera with video capture capabilities...

ORGANIZER is very popular application with great organizing capabilities with albums, tags, metadata-searches etc. There are lot many sharing services available in Organizer which includes, Sharing to FLICKR, FACEBOOK, PHOTOSHOP.com etc...

Apart from that, it has various automatic mechanisms for better organization like Face Recognition which automatically detects faces and try to identify who is that person, AUTO ANALYZER which helps in categorization of various files according to their properties and SYNC ENGINE which helps in taking backup of your data on Photoshop.com automatically as you add more media or edit somethings...

Organizer has various working views including Thumbnail View which shows all the files in Organizer in a particular order according to the order preferences selected... like 'Oldest First', 'Newest first', Custom Order etc... folder view which help in exploring all the files as per their original folder hierarchy which is very helpful sometimes... There is a date view which helps in organizing photographs according to days, Months or Years... So for example, if you want to see photographs of all your Birthday parties, just click on the date of your Birth and you will see all the pics clicked on that date...


Organizer is very rich in terms of functionality and it upon us how we can leverage its capabilities to get wonderful organizing experience...

How do you see the photos that were Backed-up/Synchronized Automatically?

Today I checked a generic topic on Adobe forums where a User want to know how many files are synchronized form my catalog to Photoshop.com. In past we have discussed many things about Backup/Sync of Photoshop Elements but never thought of this basic requorement. Let me throw some light on alternatives to check which are files are synchronized, pending etc.

 

In Elements Organizer, there is an icon in status dialog which is known as Sync-Meter. Please see above figure to know about  Sync-Meter. When we click on Sync Meter in status dialog, a fly-out menu comes up with various options. Top section of this fly-out menu has three Options:


1. View Backed Up/Synchronized files
2. View not Backed up/Synchronized files
3. View files pending Backup/Synchronization


These three options apply some search in your catalog and show corresponding results in imagewell. So if we click "View Backed Up/Synchronized files", all backed-Up/Synced files will be shown in Organizer.

 

If we search for "View files pending Backup/Synchronization" all files which are pending will be shown with an icon with each file. Please see second figure.

 

Apart from knowing the status at file level, there is another way to know which album is pending for Sync. Third figure shows some icons in front of albums. This icon indicates that album has at least one file pending for Backup/Sync.

Please share your feedback about this post and let us know in case you have more queries regarding this behavior. 

A Tech Note on Adobe Support site for basic troubeshooting of Sync related problems

Today I came through a very basic Tech-Note which is recently published on Adobe Support website. I don't find it very useful but still would want to share in case you want to know about it.
http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/847/cpsid_84759.html

 

Photoshop.com Services are still not accessible after applying 7.0.3 update

Recently I found a dicussion on Adobe forums where some users were not able to use Photoshop.com services after applying 7.0.3 update.

http://forums.adobe.com/message/2792420

But you need not worry, in case same thing is happening with you. Just follow the steps mentioned below and you should be able to use Photoshop.com services with improved performance:

1. Uninstall PSE 7.0
2. Install it again.
3. You will again see the message for update and continue with download and install.
4. Restart your machine

ALL THE BEST !!!

Automatically Synchronizing(Backing-up) your files to www.photoshop.com when machine is in Idle state

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Automatically Synchronizing(Backing-up) your files to www.photoshop.com when machine is in Idle state

In 7th and 8th releases of Adobe Photoshop Elements, there is an online service through which files in your Organizer catalog can be synchronized to www.photoshop.com. There is a SynAgent sitting in your system-tray on bottom-right of your screen, which does this work.

This Syncagent work with your Catalog and www.photoshop.com to identify the channges and sync them appropriately. It does this job regularly and immidiate triggering is possible in PSE8 through 'SYNC NOW' button in Sync Status dialog.

Many times I have seen people on forums discussing about some way to run this agent when system is in IDLE state. AND yes, there is a way. Please follow steps mentioned below to activate automatic synchronization when system in is IDLE state.

1. Right click on Syncagent in System-Tray (I assume that you are already using Backup/Sync and Syncagent in running on your machine)
2. There is an option "Sync when Idle"
3. Check this option.

Now onwards, you will see this agent in your system-tray and but it is not doing anything. It will start doing synchronization, as it detects no keyboard/mouse aciton on your machine.

Hope it will help activating synchronization during system idle state. Please write back in case you have some specific queries about the same.

Have you encountered : "Photoshop.com Services require an update to Photoshop Elements...."

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As mentioned in last post, Adobe has released a new patch for PSE7 to improve overall performance of Photoshop.com Services and some Security Fixes. Now onwards if you don't apply the latest patch, Photoshop.com services will not be available and you will see a message following message on launching Welcome Screen:

"Photoshop.com Services require an update to Photoshop Elements. Please update Elements using the Adobe Update Menager () or by checking the Adobe website at  http://www.adobe.com"

There is an "Update" button in this message dialog which takes you to a web-page having a downloadable zip file with 7.0.3 patch. Just go on with this and your PSE should be back with all Photoshop.com Services.

NOTE: When you apply the patch through Patcher.exe make sure that Welcome Screen OR Organizer OR Editor is not launched at that point of time...

Write back in case you have some other information about this update...

A useful link : http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/841/cpsid_84110.html

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UPDATE 7.0.3 FOR Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0/7.0.2: How to improve overall performance of Backup/Sync in Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0

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Recently Adobe has released a Patch for Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements, which is more about improving performance of Photoshop.com services like Backup/Sync, Online Sharing, Contact-books etc.

Today I found a good source of information about patch 7.0.3 on Adobe site and wanted to share that. Check out http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/841/cpsid_84110.html to know more about applying this patch.

One important thing which I came to know after reading this article : PSE 7.0 and PSE 7.0.2 will not have Photoshop.com controls until you apply this patch...

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Backup/Sync Performance in PSE7 and PSE8

  


Few days back I read following statement somewhere and want to share few things in this regard.


Backup/sync agent starting slowly without any indication that it is running and will start synching soon. Is there any definite time for  Sync Operations?

-         Sync is comparatively slow in PSE7 and one should ensure that 7.0.3 update is applied, which can improve overall performance of Backup/Sync.

-          There is minimal feedback about Sync activities in PSE7 and this has been improved in PSE8 by adding Sync-Status dialog, which gives live feedback about Synchronization progress.

-          It will be difficult to set expectations in terms of definite time for Synchronization because there are different things involved here. I would like to share some information about synchronization process:

§         When you activate Sync in your catalog, it starts working with your local catalog database and www.photoshop.com to calculate what all needs to be synced. So here come different variables which may lead to longer time for this calculation. Now lets see what all variables are involved in this:

·         How big is your www.photoshop.com account? More files/albums/tags you have in your www.photoshop.com account, it will take more time but not every time. It takes maximum time when you start Sync or you restart SyncAgent.

·         Internet connection

·         Availability of Catalog Database (Is catalog free or in-use by other processes like Face Recognition, Auto-Analysis etc.

·         Few other exceptions when Server is busy etc...

-          Backup/Sync in PSE8:

o       When Sync-Engine does initial calculations for identifying changes to be synchronized, it shows the state as "Initializing..." in Sync Status Dialog.

o       “Initializing…” state takes more time as we start Sync first time on a machine or after machine-restart.

o       File-Size and Server-Health are important factors for Upload performance. 

I hope above information will give some sense of Sync-processing in PSE7 and PSE8 w.r.t. performance and feedback.

Few days back I read following statement somewhere and want to share few things in this regard.

Welcome Screen in Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0

Christmas Template Greeting CardIf you install Photoshop Elements and try to launch it from shortcut on desktop or Start menu, following window is launched. We call it Welcome screen which helps you selecting appropriate workspace you are looking for.

In PSE7, lot many things are changed in Welcome screen. Let me describe what all new is there in Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0. 7th release is very well integrated with http://www.photoshop.com/ and it has a pod on right side which shows you valuable information dynamically. You will notice information like avaialability of creative Christmas Template during december month and other seasonal things time to time.

On left side, there are different buttons for:

1. Photoshop.com Membership

This section shows some basic details about your http://www.photoshop.com/ account.

2. My Account

On clicking this, all account details are shown in a separate dialog. For accessing your account details, it asks for your password for security purpose.

3. Backup Settings

In PSE7, there is a new feature for backing up or synchronizing your catalog with http://www.photoshop.com/. Clicking on this will launch Organizer with Backup/Sync preferences dialog where you can set different setting for activating Sync activities.

4. My Shared Gallery

This will land you to http://www.photoshop.com/ account with all publically shared albums.

5. Tutorials:

If you have http://www.photopshop.com/ memebership, Adobe gives some extra tutorials time to time. Just click on this section to launch Adobe Inspiration Browser where you can browse through many good tutorials for Photoshop Elements or Premiere Elements.

Many people have shared there reviews about PSE7 Welcome screen as performance problem.

CLICK HERE to know more....

Why SyncAgent remains in "Initializing..." state and what should be done?

 Hi All,

Many times I have seen people talking about "Initializing..." state of Sync. Here I am trying to share some information which may be helpful for you to understand this better.

 When you activate Sync in your catalog, it starts working with your local catalog database and www.photoshop.com to calculate what all needs to be synced. So here comes different variables which may lead to longer time for this calculation. When Sync-Engine does all this work, it shows the state as "Initializing...". Now lets see what all variables are involved in this:

1. Internet connection
2.  Availability of Catalog Database (Is catalog free or in-use by other processes like Face Recognition, Auto-Analysis etc)
3. How big is your www.photoshop.com account? More files/albums/tags you have in your www.photoshop.com account, it will take more time but not every time. It takes maximum time when you start Sync or you restart SyncAgent.

4. Few other exceptions when Server is busy etc...

Hope all this will give a sense how it works and why it takes time. I will be happy to share more for your specific queries.

*** NOTE : Overall Sync is fast in PSE8 as compared to PSE7. There are two patches for 7th release of Photoshop Elements : 7.0.2 and 7.0.3 . Adobe has tried to improve overall performance of Sync in 7.0.3.

How Adobe Photoshop Elements is integrated with www.photoshop.com ? OR What extra you get in Photoshop Elements if you have www.photoshop.com membership?

You must be aware that three years ago Adobe came up with a new digital Imaging web portal called www.photoshop.com. It's a rich internet application for organizing and editing your photographs online. I will not be discussing more about different features on www.photoshop.com.

Here we are going to discuss benefits of www.photoshop.com membership for a PSE user. Now let me clear first that www.photoshop.com is only available in US, so all the benefits in PSE are for US users... I think Adobe must be thinking about expanding the boundaries but as of now its US only.

What you get extra in Adobe Photoshop Elements if you have www.photoshop.com Membership?

1. Capability to Backup/Sync your catalog data to www.photoshop.com.

If you are basic memeber, you gets 2GB of free space which can be utilized to keep your precious memories online on www.photoshop.com. You can expand the memory by spending some dollars but prizes are reasonable.

Check out http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelwin/faq/ for more details.

2. Sync your multiple machines with www.photoshop.com

3. Extra Album Templates for sharing your photographs in better way. If you have Basic or Plus membership, you gets new templates in PSE and these templates are pushed regular based on seasons. Plus Members get some extra templates which are more creative and content-rich.

4. Downloadble content for Editor Artworks.. Similar to above... PLUS members have extra content in editor as well.

5. Interesting Tutorials for beginners as well as Experts through an integral application called "Inspirational Browser"

What should I do when Organizer says : "Backup/Synchronization has stopped. Click here to view errors"

Today one of my friend sent an email regarding Backup/Sync in Adobe Photoshop Elements :

"I am noticing that both my laptop and my desktop system at home shows in the Elements pane that sync has stopped because of connectivity problems, however the sync agent is churning away in the task bar, and I can watch it working. The in-app sync status seems to be broken for me; anyone else seeing that?"

 My first reply:  SyncAgent doesn't stop if it encounters any error, but it doesn't process anything and remain in sleep mode. It waits for user action to solve the problem and start its work again. So you see the SyncAgent running in System tray but if you launch it says:

So, its saying that your attention is required to continue Sync activities. 

Let me share what to do next ???

As you see a similar message in your Sync-Status Dialog, which comes after double clicking SyncAgent exe in System trey, go to Organizer. 

In Organizer Status bar you will see an icon like and as you move the mouse over it a tool-tip is shown saying : “Backup/Synchronization has stopped. Click here to view errors”. Click this icon and you will see a dialog with actual problem description in it:

Above dialog clearly says that SyncAgent was not able to detect internet on this amchine due to some reason. Just check the connectivity, if its fine Click on "I've fixed the problems".

As you click “I;ve fixed the problems” in error dialog, SyncAgent checks if problem has been resolved or not.

If yes, it starts processing the changes you have in PSE/PS.com and state changes to :

Your problem has been resolved. Like disconnection there can be other problem which can stop SyncAgent to work but now you know how to proceed for resolving the problems.

Do you know that Adobe Elements Organizer is Free in 8th Version of Adobe Photoshop Elements?

Are you aware that Organizer is FREE in 8th version of Adobe Photoshop Elements. Yes, its right and here I would be sharing more specific details about Organizer in Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.

Why I am saying it's FREE: As you might be aware that Adobe provides trial version of Adobe Photoshop Elements which can be used for 30 Days. After 30 days you need to pay for valid serial key. In PSE8, you can continue to use Elements Organizer without paying anything.

Here are few other facts about Elements Organizer in PSE8:

1. Elements Organizer is first time shipped with Adobe Premiere Elements 8.0, which is a video editing application for hobbyist Users.
2. Face Recognition is one of the cool and new feature of 8th release of Adobe Photoshop Elements.
3. Elements Organizer 8.0 supports Multi-Machine Sync through www.photoshop.com
4. It Helps you analyzing your video files automatically on some standard parameters.

Much More...

Just check it out...

What is special for US Users in "Adobe Photoshop Elements"???

Hi,

If you are in US and looking for Adobe Photoshop Elements for your Photographs, let me share what additional benefits you will have. I am really sorry to say that some features in Adobe Photoshop Elements are disabled for Non-US Users, but Yes, they have few other alternatives... Here I will be talking about the extra benefits a US User can have...

Here is the list of benefits you have:

1. 2GB Free Space on www.photoshop.com

2. AutomaticBackup/Sync Solution which enables you backing up your media files to www.photoshop.com automatically. And most importantly, it keep the updated files on www.photoshop.com.

3. Live Album Sharing with your Frinds through www.photoshop.com

4. Free Album Template which are shippped time to time. So most of the times you get new templates for sharing your memories with friends. Templates for Halloween, New Year, Christmas etc.

5. Lot of Artworks and other type of Content for Photoshop Elements Editor.

6. Time to time, new tutorials are pushed through Elements Inspirational Browser. These tutorials are very helpful and in case you have good understanding of any good use of Product, you can publish a Tutorial for Elements Users.


APART FROM THAT PLUS USERS GETS SOME SPECIAL CONTENT, TEMPLATES and TUTORIALS IN ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS.

To know more about 8th release of Adobe Photoshop Elements check out http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelwin/

How to resolve Sync Conflict when I delete a File from www.Photoshop.com.?

Resolve conflicts in Photoshop Elements due to deletion of your Files in www.photoshop.com

***Here I assume that you are ware of Conflicts in Backup/Sync on Elements and when they occcur. If not check out... My Previous Post...

1. Click the Elements Organizer Backup/Sync Warning icon in the status bar of Elements Organizer and select ‘View and Resolve Conflicts’.

2. To resolve conflicts due to deletions, click ‘Deletions’ tab in the Backup/Sync Resolution dialog. You see a message requesting confirmation and the following:

          A. The Delete List with a list of deleted files that need resolving.
                                Note: The first deletion, Delete1 is selected by default.
          B. Thumbnails of the photo with captions ‘Do Not Delete’ and ‘Delete’ to facilitate resolving Delete 1.

3. Select the thumbnail of the photo below ‘Do not delete’ if you want to retain the photo. Or select the photo (with a cross mark) below ‘Delete’ to delete the photo. Do one of the following:

A. You have multiple conflicts due to deletions in a batch, and want to resolve all conflicts by retaining the photos instead of deleting: Select ‘Use these settings for all remaining deletions in the batch’. Selecting this option ensures that all the deletions are resolved by retaining the photos and not deleting them. Click ‘Apply Changes and Quit’.

B. You have multiple deletions in a batch and want to resolve each conflict due to deletion individually: Choose the action to be taken for a particular conflict. Click ‘Apply Changes and Quit’. One of the conflicts due to deletion is resolved. To resolve the next conflict, open the Backup/Sync Resolution dialog and follow steps 2 & 3 mentioned above.

Note:

1. When you choose deletion to happen, there is another checkbox to facilitate the deletion from Hard-Disk.

In case you want to delete the file from Hard-Disk also, check “Also delete from Hard disk”.

2. If you choose not to delete the file from catalog, file will be moved out of album(s). That effectively means that files will be there in catalog without any Album association.

3. In case you want to retain a file in catalog which was not associated with any album, it will be uploaded again to www.photoshop.com.